Bubbles
by heatqueen
Summary: This is a one-shot about Emily and JJ, which focuses on the way Emily channels her grief following a difficult case.


**Bubbles**

**Prompts: Grey / Sooth / Captiousness**

**Summary: This is a one-shot about Emily and JJ, which focuses on the way Emily channels her grief following a difficult case. Please R&R!**

Emily slowly put one leg into the steaming water, then the next, and lowered her body into the bubble-filled bath. Letting ot a small sigh as the hot water washed over her and soothed her sore and tense muscles, she closed her eyes and leaned back. Five dead bodies, one unsub in jail.

And nightmares. Lots of them.

She opened her eyes again quickly. If she hadn't, images would have formed behind her closed eyelids of things she would rather not see again. The unsub. The blood. The dead...so many dead bodies. So much innocent bloodshed.

Instead she stared at the ceiling light despite knowing it was bad for her vision. The light was a bright, positive energy source, one that she desperately needed right now. Light chased away the dark and provided a tiny bit of hope that all was not bad in the world. Too often had she crossed the line into the dark side of the world, so much that the line had blurred and the good and bad had merged into a messy, grey mesh. And Emily often wondered how long it would be before the darkness consumed her completely; before so much damage had been incurred upon her soul that she was no longer able to find the light again.

Once more she closed her eyes and submerged her head under the water. It was peaceful there, and silent. Under the bubbles no one could get her and she was able to escape from the horrors of the world. It was her own personal hiding space that provided her with short, but gradually getting longer, spells of relief. And Emily knew that it would only be so long before she stayed under so long, hiding under the bubbles as she grasped desperately for comfort, that she never managed to find her way back to the surface.

That day would not be today, though. As her lungs screamed for relief, Emily's head broke the surface as she gasped for air. She had made it back this time; the light was still there.

There was a knocking on her door.

"Em? Are you okay in there?"

Emily smiled. Behind the door stood a totally different kind of light, the love of her life, Jennifer Jareau. She was the reason why Emily knew that, no matter how long she hid beneath the bubbles, she would always return to the surface. JJ's love was the light that set her soul ablaze so that, no matter what darkness there was, Emily would always find joy again.

"I'm good," she replied.

She spoke the words knowing that a.) she wasn't fine and b.) JJ knew it. And sure enough, the same thing happened that occurred every time after a case like this one: JJ, unaffected by Emily's attempts to compartmentalize huge emotions into small boxes, opened the door and slipped in to join her.

Emily didn't attempt to stop her. For all the years before they'd met that Emily had spent dealing with things alone, she was slowly learning to accept help and lean on other people when she needed support. She watched as JJ removed her bathrobe, the captiousness of her beautiful body drawing her in - not in a sexual way, but an emotional one where she silently thanked the Heavens for granting her such an amazing blessing.

As JJ joined her, their eyes met: Emily's brown ones silently conveying their message of anguish as JJ's insightful, blue orbs understood and offered comfort. Then Emily's guard crumbled and a tear slipped down her cheek.

"I'm good," she repeated as her body started shaking and her eyes started streaming. "I'm good..."

Evidently she wasn't and JJ knew this. But she understood what the real message was. Saying she was okay wasn't Emily trying to hide her emotions. It was her way of saying she wasn't fine at the moment, but that she wold heal. It was her way of saying she hadn't lost sight of the good things in the world. That she could still find the light.

"You're good," JJ echoed, her voice hollow.

Quietly they held each other, their hands joined together under the bubbles, finding solace in each other's presence, hiding together in their special place away from the rest of the world.


End file.
